Mike Swanson: director of photography...
Michael Swanson (aka ‘Swanny’) brings more than a decade of experience to
Media Process Group. Prior to joining MPG, he worked as D.P. at TeamWorks
Media and as a photographer at Orbis Broadcast Group.
Most recently, Swanny served as D.P. of MPG’s 2012 documentary, “Joffrey:
Mavericks of American Dance,” which was broadcast on PBS’ American Masters.
He also was the D.P. of “Oprah’s Oscar Special 2012” on OWN. He was also
co-D.P. of the 2012 documentary “Perseverance: The Story of Dr. Billy
Taylor.” And along with Keith Walker, he has traveled the globe for
“Oprah’s Next Chapter.”
Previous world travels took Mike to Ghana to shoot a long-form project for
micro-finance organization Opportunity International and to South America to
shoot a corporate video for beverage maker Tampico in Brazil and Peru.
Additional documentary work includes serving as DP on “The Team That
Changed the World” and “Disco Demolition: 25th Anniversary.” He has shot
commercials for the Big 10 Conference, Conference USA and Wilson Sporting
goods, numerous segments for the Oprah Winfrey Show, CBS’ 60 Minutes, ESPN’s
SportsCentury, as well as corporate projects for University of Chicago,
Metra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Crown Imports. His work has taken
him to 48 of the 50 states (missing just Idaho and North Dakota) and six of
seven continents. He is desperately looking for a trip to Antarctica.
When he is not shooting he is spending time with his 2 daughters Eleri and
Cora and his wife Erin.